Tranmere scorefred sponsored by time to bounce back

[georgefostersbeard]

Why so, ES?
From my one and only view of it, I thought he had held Akins when the ball had gone through and it was a second booking.Their other centre half appeared to be saying that Akins had hold of their player's shirt but I didn't see that

[MTFCMusings]

Having watched the highlights it looked as if Swans shot was heading wide. At the ground I thought it looked on target. We did say he needed a bit of luck to get his mojo back, even one to go in off his backside, so maybe being given a goal that was an own goal will do the trick.

[lancer]

Really glad we are out of all cup competitions. You don’t become a bad side overnight just the last few games we have just looked jaded and leggy. We had Very little movement when we had possession and seemed to be a bit one paced.
This break will do the players the world of good and we will come good again.
Great to see Swan get his goal (if it is given to him) that will do his confidence the world of good. Got Macca to come back hopefully for MK Dons and Hewitt won’t be far off. Quinn is obviously not match fit yet and Clarke made a huge difference when he came on and no doubt will start the next game.
Onwards and upwards !

[CassellsCap]

Rubbish

great support that is

[Rob]

Really glad we are out of all cup competitions. You don’t become a bad side overnight just the last few games we have just looked jaded and leggy. We had Very little movement when we had possession and seemed to be a bit one paced.
This break will do the players the world of good and we will come good again.
Great to see Swan get his goal (if it is given to him) that will do his confidence the world of good. Got Macca to come back hopefully for MK Dons and Hewitt won’t be far off. Quinn is obviously not match fit yet and Clarke made a huge difference when he came on and no doubt will start the next game.
Onwards and upwards !

I thought Clarke and Maris made a huge difference when they came on, all of a sudden we had impetus which had previously been lacking. They both looked forwards at every opportunity whilst Reed and Lewis were quite negative and created almost nothing despite so much possession - I like Reed but he was poor tonight, he has a couple of weeks off now given his suspension so hopefully he will get back to the player he was a few weeks ago. Same really for Lewis, he has really gone off the boil and I was very surprised he stayed on and DKD was subbed - didn't understand that one. I certainly think Hewitt and McLaughlin remain our best full backs and it will be great to get them back, both are just so much better than MacDonald and Johnson in attacking areas - we miss them both so much and they would give us the attacking width we lack at times, especially on the left which was once a very strong area for us.

We certainly looked like a team that needs a rest so the cup exit has done us a favour - Clough certainly alluded to that after the match - the break will do us good I think.

[Amber Andy]

Poor in every department tonight, nobody played well.

Midfield truly awful with Reed being the worst.

Hopefully we can practice crossing, corners, free kicks and shooting during our 10 day break.

A point gained but just look where we could have been !!

Agree, apart from Bowery and Swan. Painful to watch. Naive going forward. Midfield slow. Flint had his worst game of the season…and yet we drew!

People criticise the crowd for moaning but it was so boring watching incessant passes across and back constantly with no one able to split a defence or make a penetrative pass. As others have said DKD and Reed were so far off it tonight and I'm sorry but Bowery wasn't far behind them. How he constantly hit crosses straight into the nearest Tranmere player was just awful. The Lewis free kick at the end was just the icing....did anyone expect him to keep it under the bar? Well done the squad though for not losing and Swanny for getting a goal . They need to be given a few days off and come back raring to rip up the league.

Bowery made the first goal.

[Martin Shaw]

Having watched the highlights it looked as if Swans shot was heading wide. At the ground I thought it looked on target. We did say he needed a bit of luck to get his mojo back, even one to go in off his backside, so maybe being given a goal that was an own goal will do the trick.

Looks like it was heading towards the right corner of the net, possibly just inside the post, possibly just wide. Certainly won't be taken off him based on the main camera footage or pitchside footage, so is his goal. Lucky deflection certainly, but great to see him playing really well. Hopefully he can kick on now.

[Amber Andy]

Tired legs out there tonight, the rest should do us good. Reed in particular had a shocker.

DKD was not having a good game but I don’t agree with taking him off. He’s by far and was our most likely player to score a goal, so take him off when we needed one was a strange one. Maris should have replaced Reed.

I think he was taken off because he lost the ball in midfield which led to their second goal. I agree he had a poor game and I can't remember him having a shot all game. It was right he was taken off. A poor performance, the positive was Swan broke his duck

[Dan]

My pics if you want a look: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?van ... 0691439104

[MTFCMusings]

Having watched the highlights it looked as if Swans shot was heading wide. At the ground I thought it looked on target. We did say he needed a bit of luck to get his mojo back, even one to go in off his backside, so maybe being given a goal that was an own goal will do the trick.

Looks like it was heading towards the right corner of the net, possibly just inside the post, possibly just wide. Certainly won't be taken off him based on the main camera footage or pitchside footage, so is his goal. Lucky deflection certainly, but great to see him playing really well. Hopefully he can kick on now.

Had another look in slo mo and agree with your assessment, hard to be definitive from the angles available.

[cassellswasmagic]

Really glad we are out of all cup competitions. You don’t become a bad side overnight just the last few games we have just looked jaded and leggy. We had Very little movement when we had possession and seemed to be a bit one paced.
This break will do the players the world of good and we will come good again.
Great to see Swan get his goal (if it is given to him) that will do his confidence the world of good. Got Macca to come back hopefully for MK Dons and Hewitt won’t be far off. Quinn is obviously not match fit yet and Clarke made a huge difference when he came on and no doubt will start the next game.
Onwards and upwards !

I thought Clarke and Maris made a huge difference when they came on, all of a sudden we had impetus which had previously been lacking. They both looked forwards at every opportunity whilst Reed and Lewis were quite negative and created almost nothing despite so much possession - I like Reed but he was poor tonight, he has a couple of weeks off now given his suspension so hopefully he will get back to the player he was a few weeks ago. Same really for Lewis, he has really gone off the boil and I was very surprised he stayed on and DKD was subbed - didn't understand that one. I certainly think Hewitt and McLaughlin remain our best full backs and it will be great to get them back, both are just so much better than MacDonald and Johnson in attacking areas - we miss them both so much and they would give us the attacking width we lack at times, especially on the left which was once a very strong area for us.

We certainly looked like a team that needs a rest so the cup exit has done us a favour - Clough certainly alluded to that after the match - the break will do us good I think.

Rob, why the hell aren’t Clarke and Maris starting? Beats me!

[The Hoffmeister]

Tired legs out there tonight, the rest should do us good. Reed in particular had a shocker.

DKD was not having a good game but I don’t agree with taking him off. He’s by far and was our most likely player to score a goal, so take him off when we needed one was a strange one. Maris should have replaced Reed.

Exactly how I saw it apart from the tired legs. They had pace up top and ran from deep, something we don't have so made us look "leggy"

[georgefostersbeard]

Rhys uses his pace on a couple of occasions but Swan showed how important he will be if he can get on form as his pace made a difference after he came on.

[Tawnystag]

Not a terrible performance as some are saying, just not ticking like we are used to. Tranmere were good, and a quick scan through their forum it seems like it was their best performance this season. They executed their plan to perfection with men behind the ball and a fast counter attack. Lots of positives including Swan goal and another game in Quinn’s legs.

The atmosphere was flat and NC spoke about the need for our fans to be patient, which I agree with. The abuse directed towards him and some of the players when at 0-1 was inexcusable, but it seems we don’t learn.

Not as bad as it could have been with teams around us stuttering too, win our game in hand and we are second.

[Martin Shaw]

Rob, why the hell aren’t Clarke and Maris starting? Beats me!

Clarke is just returning from injury. Great to see him back.

[Chrisuknottm]

Poor in every department tonight, nobody played well.

Midfield truly awful with Reed being the worst.

Hopefully we can practice crossing, corners, free kicks and shooting during our 10 day break.

A point gained but just look where we could have been !!

Agree, apart from Bowery and Swan. Painful to watch. Naive going forward. Midfield slow. Flint had his worst game of the season…and yet we drew!

People criticise the crowd for moaning but it was so boring watching incessant passes across and back constantly with no one able to split a defence or make a penetrative pass. As others have said DKD and Reed were so far off it tonight and I'm sorry but Bowery wasn't far behind them. How he constantly hit crosses straight into the nearest Tranmere player was just awful. The Lewis free kick at the end was just the icing....did anyone expect him to keep it under the bar? Well done the squad though for not losing and Swanny for getting a goal . They need to be given a few days off and come back raring to rip up the league.

Bowery made the first goal.

However good that skill was how many failed crosses were there before then.

[georgefostersbeard]

Poor in every department tonight, nobody played well.

Midfield truly awful with Reed being the worst.

Hopefully we can practice crossing, corners, free kicks and shooting during our 10 day break.

A point gained but just look where we could have been !!

Agree, apart from Bowery and Swan. Painful to watch. Naive going forward. Midfield slow. Flint had his worst game of the season…and yet we drew!

People criticise the crowd for moaning but it was so boring watching incessant passes across and back constantly with no one able to split a defence or make a penetrative pass. As others have said DKD and Reed were so far off it tonight and I'm sorry but Bowery wasn't far behind them. How he constantly hit crosses straight into the nearest Tranmere player was just awful. The Lewis free kick at the end was just the icing....did anyone expect him to keep it under the bar? Well done the squad though for not losing and Swanny for getting a goal . They need to be given a few days off and come back raring to rip up the league.

Bowery made the first goal.

However good that skill was how many failed crosses were there before then.

At least six at the stage, not one of them beat the first or second man

[part time pete]

[quote=[/quote]

People criticise the crowd for moaning but it was so boring watching incessant passes across and back constantly with no one able to split a defence or make a penetrative pass. As others have said DKD and Reed were so far off it tonight and I'm sorry but Bowery wasn't far behind them. How he constantly hit crosses straight into the nearest Tranmere player was just awful. The Lewis free kick at the end was just the icing....did anyone expect him to keep it under the bar? Well done the squad though for not losing and Swanny for getting a goal . They need to be given a few days off and come back raring to rip up the league.[/quote] Bowery made the first goal.[/quote]

However good that skill was how many failed crosses were there before then.[/quote]

At least six at the stage, not one of them beat the first or second man[/quote]

I call that good defending and blocking by Tranmere

[gazza1988]

Even the cross for the goal hit the first man and deflected to dkd.

[victor A block]

Tranmere had a game plan that worked. More or less 2 banks of 5 pushing up denying us any space to pass, then catching us on the break when we inevitably lose possession. Didn't help ourselves though with such slow build up play.
Lewis particularly when he receives the ball drags it across his body so he is facing his own goal. DKD and Reed also poor last night.
Clarke, particularly but also Maris made a big difference when he came on and deserves to start if his injury niggles are over.
2 strikers scored but you cant escape the feeling we need a real poacher still.
We put countless crosses in without any reward. Some are due to just poor crossing but others reveal a lack of instinct from our strikers.
Akins in particular is guilty of always being behind the defender in these scenarios and reacting too slowly to the incoming ball. Oates is just so frustrating and looks to be trying too hard.
Any 2 of Oates, Akins and Bowery ( yes i know he played right back) doesn't work as a front line IMO so we need to hope Swans goal gives him some confidence as he played well when brought on.

[MTFCMusings]

Even the cross for the goal hit the first man and deflected to dkd.

Don’t think it did looking at the pitchside footage.

[zod]

I thought we looked far more positive once the changes were made.
Far too many backward and sideways passes initially which ended up getting us into trouble.

[georgefostersbeard]

[quote=

People criticise the crowd for moaning but it was so boring watching incessant passes across and back constantly with no one able to split a defence or make a penetrative pass. As others have said DKD and Reed were so far off it tonight and I'm sorry but Bowery wasn't far behind them. How he constantly hit crosses straight into the nearest Tranmere player was just awful. The Lewis free kick at the end was just the icing....did anyone expect him to keep it under the bar? Well done the squad though for not losing and Swanny for getting a goal . They need to be given a few days off and come back raring to rip up the league.[/quote] Bowery made the first goal.[/quote]

However good that skill was how many failed crosses were there before then.[/quote]

At least six at the stage, not one of them beat the first or second man[/quote]

I call that good defending and blocking by Tranmere [/quote]

In which case, I should be playing at a higher level because the only thing i can do well at five a side is getting in the way of shots and it hurts

[stagmanrob]

Adkins had done his homework on us clearly.

He's a manager who has had good success over the years and I am sure he will do a good job at Tranmere if given enough time to build a team in his image.

They sat in well in a very organised two banks of four. An old school 4-4-2 is very rare to see these days but you could see they were set up in a way to try and get the best out of what they have to work with.

We had plenty of possession, but the issue for me was the fact that it was so slow and laboured because nobody was showing enough bravery to want the ball in areas that required a positive forward pass.
As much as folk are lambasting the fact we stroked it about in our own half and passed sideways or backwards a lot, from my point of view there was nobody showing for the man with the ball, so they didn't have any other options.

Anybody in space also seemed to constantly be facing their own goal, rather than on the half-turn, so if the ball came into them they immediately played a first time pass backwards as they were unaware of what was behind them.

DKD was massively off it for me and the reason we looked so slow and laboured. His job was to be in the hole, finding space inbetween the lines surely? The amount of times any of the back four had the ball though and were looking for a positive forward ball to get us moving, DKD was in line with both Akins and Oates playing on their last man, making a front 3.
It needed him to do what we were lacking and come for the ball with his body shape ready to receive it yet be able to play forwards quickly as well.

For me that's what did us over last night massively.

[oldweststander]

I thought we looked leggy and seemed withdrawn tonight, Oates looked off it from the kick off, he tried his heart out but he didn't have that zip we are all used to seeing.

On too many occasions, our player on the ball was standing arms outstretched as if to say "move for God's sake, give me a pass to make". Add to that the passing quality was way down on the last few months.

Hopefully, a few days break will recharge their batteries and with Clark and Macca on the brink of fitness we should get back on it for next up MK Dons?